How Would You Grade Our Season Up To This Point?

Nice read courtesy of Hoopsworld. I'd say a "B" grade is a far assessment of this team so far. Would you not agree?

What a difference a couple of weeks makes If I had been asked to grade the Raptors on December 17th  the day after the Orlando Magic had stomped Toronto for the third time in the then young season  there would have been very few positives to discuss or pleasantries to dole out. Instead, as it turns out, the Raptors "Grading the First 30" report was due on January 7th  one day after Toronto held on to beat the Magic in Orlando. The win was not only a much-needed victory over Orlando, it was the Raps seventh win in their last eight contests, and pulled the team back up to the .500 mark. It was an undeniably important game; the question is whether Toronto will be able to maintain this momentum and continue their push towards respectability in the Eastern Conference.

Areas to Address before the Deadline: Bryan Colangelo and the Raptors front office have been dealing with the same underlying issue for a few years now  will they be able to keep Chris Bosh in Toronto during the entirety of his prime? Bosh has maintained publicly that his is happy with the direction of the franchise and enjoys playing for the Raptors. And now with the Raptors playing their best ball of the season, things look sunnier in Toronto. Still, losing Bosh via free-agency and getting nothing in return would be a devastating loss for the franchise; setting them back years. Thus, there has been talk that Colangelo may hedge his bets and possibly look to trade Bosh by February's trade deadline. The rational here would be assuring the franchise won't be left empty-handed if Bosh decides to bolt. If Colangelo were to put CB4 on the block, he'd certainly be inundated with offers. The problem is that you rarely get equal value when you trade superstars in the NBA.

And with Raptors making their push, the probability of Toronto keeping Bosh past February is increasing by the day. If they do decide to keep the core intact and bring in reinforcements, the goal has to be to improve the porous defense, especially if they want to make noise in the postseason. For instance, even in their victory last night in Orlando, they nearly blew an 18-point fourth quarter lead because they could not get stops. The defense has to addressed, and fortified.

Grade: B
As intimated in this column's initial paragraph, if I had assigned the Raptors a grade in mid-December, it would have likely been in the "D" range. But Toronto deserves plenty of credit for turning around their season over the last few weeks. Let's take a big picture look: The Raptors are 18-18 on the season; they are in second place in the Atlantic Division; and they are currently sixth in the conference  just a half game behind the Miami HEAT for the 5th seed. Considering how poorly they played to start the year, that is certainly respectable. Now they need to make this current win streak stick, by backing it with consistent effort and sustained success.

If I were to grade the Raps so far I'd have to give them a B-/C+. The Raps have improved a great deal on the defensive end the last 15 games or so. But they still have a long way to show they can be consistent and beat the better teams in the NBA. They are beating the teams they are supposed to be beating and now some of the tougher ones as well. As long as they can keep improving on D then I see them finishing 5th in the east ahead of Miami.

A Bgrade seems fair. Nine new players, pretty much a rookie head coach, difficult schedule, etc. They've done well by staying at .500. I full expect them to leap frog Miami over the next week or so and establish themselves as the fifth seed for now. Miami is only one game above .500 at home this year and that's after 21 home games. That's not good enough and from here on out they have eight more road games than home games. Even though they're 6-6 on the road, I don't see that holding throughout the season.

A Bgrade seems fair. Nine new players, pretty much a rookie head coach, difficult schedule, etc. They've done well by staying at .500. I full expect them to leap frog Miami over the next week or so and establish themselves as the fifth seed for now. Miami is only one game above .500 at home this year and that's after 21 home games. That's not good enough and from here on out they have eight more road games than home games. Even though they're 6-6 on the road, I don't see that holding throughout the season.

If I were to grade the Raps so far I'd have to give them a B-/C+. The Raps have improved a great deal on the defensive end the last 15 games or so. But they still have a long way to show they can be consistent and beat the better teams in the NBA. They are beating the teams they are supposed to be beating and now some of the tougher ones as well. As long as they can keep improving on D then I see them finishing 5th in the east ahead of Miami.

Gotta agree. I picked them to win around 43 games this year and if all goes well, they might surpass my expectations by a couple games. If everything blows up, they'll win 33.

Pretty much a B- in general, due to the fact that it took Triano a long while to finally utilize every athletic specimen on the roster to play good defense (debatable). We are not controlling enough winnable games to allow the winning garbage time to be set on the final 1:30 of the 4th quarter and blowing 15+ in the forth to 2 pt leads. It took an injury to Jose to tell Triano that Jack and Jose should not play together in the 4th.

I'm glad this team pulled some good wins against elite teams (although they were b-2-b) and took advantage of their mistakes to actually EARN a 0.500 record. Some of the dog-housed players on our team are actually responding in this stretch and giving us a good effort.

If Triano makes us go 15+ over 0.500 at the end of the season, don't give him the coach of the year award, no one vote plz. That award is cursed!

GM: B
+ (BCo tossed out a lazy 3pt shooter and a horse-face, stole Weems and FreeAmir, exchanged a corpse for a potential Italian Bastardo, No MORE Joey FTLOG, Jack, Turk ain't bad at all)

Coach:
+ Good decisions on dog-housing ppl and they somehow respond at the time they are needed, this would not happen with Smitch
- Still no good plays called and broken plays I believe our players bail him out
- Won't call timeouts when needed, both Calderon and Jack tooooo long

Pretty much a B- in general, due to the fact that it took Triano a long while to finally utilize every athletic specimen on the roster to play good defense (debatable). We are not controlling enough winnable games to allow the winning garbage time to be set on the final 1:30 of the 4th quarter and blowing 15+ in the forth to 2 pt leads. It took an injury to Jose to tell Triano that Jack and Jose should not play together in the 4th.

I'm glad this team pulled some good wins against elite teams (although they were b-2-b) and took advantage of their mistakes to actually EARN a 0.500 record. Some of the dog-housed players on our team are actually responding in this stretch and giving us a good effort.

If Triano makes us go 15+ over 0.500 at the end of the season, don't give him the coach of the year award, no one vote plz. That award is cursed!

GM: B
+ (BCo tossed out a lazy 3pt shooter and a horse-face, stole Weems and FreeAmir, exchanged a corpse for a potential Italian Bastardo, No MORE Joey FTLOG, Jack, Turk ain't bad at all)

Coach:
+ Good decisions on dog-housing ppl and they somehow respond at the time they are needed, this would not happen with Smitch
- Still no good plays called and broken plays I believe our players bail him out
- Won't call timeouts when needed, both Calderon and Jack tooooo long

Where do people feel the raptors expectations lie? Have they not played about as good as anyone would expect them to? Other than maybe winning that game in Phoenix and in Memphis early in the season, they have won the games they should have won and lost the games they should have lost. 500. after completely retooling the team, playing the most games in the NBA and implementing a brand new defensive scheme is a pretty decent showing.

I give them an A so far. They are peaking during the 'dog days' of the season, getting all their guys back and getting solid play from Bargs and Derozan, two of the what ifs coming into the season.

Ideally they could of kept a few games closer, but losing by 2 or 20 is still a loss. If they continue their strong play on the defensive end and continue to get good showings from their bench, thier one player away from being considered a dark horse contender in the east.

Its hard to truly gauge how Triano has coached giving all the pieces he had to deal with. I think he has done a commendable job giving different guys minutes and benching guys who are not pulling thier weight.

The most important part of the early season was showing that the Raptors are a play off team and worthy of Bosh resigning. As Bosh goes, so do the raps.

Raptors are exactly where I thought they would at the start of the season.

Following the same path as the 06-07 Raptors on their way to a 47 win season after a 7-13 start.

There are similarities between the 06-07 squad and this year's edition. Both teams had a major makeover in the off season, both teams started off slow but started to improve around late December. Hopefully the outcome is the same this year!

From my memory the Raptors are generally a 2nd half team. That being said I still think they are about 1 move away from being able to pull a 1st round upset. Here is a question. If for whatever reason a trade is proposed: Bargnani straight up for Noah...which GM says No?

In my mind Noah is excatly the type of player the Raptors need, want and could be of high use. His defence, shotblocking and unlimited energy on the off. boards could single handedly propel us to the upper echeolon of the East. Not to mention he is still young and somewhat controllable

From my memory the Raptors are generally a 2nd half team. That being said I still think they are about 1 move away from being able to pull a 1st round upset. Here is a question. If for whatever reason a trade is proposed: Bargnani straight up for Noah...which GM says No?

In my mind Noah is excatly the type of player the Raptors need, want and could be of high use. His defence, shotblocking and unlimited energy on the off. boards could single handedly propel us to the upper echeolon of the East. Not to mention he is still young and somewhat controllable

Welcome to RRF tarunj! If I were asked this question last season I would have answered with an emphatic Yes! to the trade. But I'm really liking how Bargs has stepped up his defensive presence in the post this season. Bargs seems to be getting better on D as the season goes along, which is what just about what everyone has been asking for. He's blocking shots and holding his own in the low post. He just needs to grab a couple more boards a game consistently and he'll be a beast in the paint

The raptors are performing pretty much the way they should be at this point. I remember the days when they would beat the good teams and lose to the bad ones and now it seems to be reversed. They need a real 2 guard to make a serious run. I give them a C cause they are good enough to pass but not good enough to merit a higher grade.

From my memory the Raptors are generally a 2nd half team. That being said I still think they are about 1 move away from being able to pull a 1st round upset. Here is a question. If for whatever reason a trade is proposed: Bargnani straight up for Noah...which GM says No?

In my mind Noah is excatly the type of player the Raptors need, want and could be of high use. His defence, shotblocking and unlimited energy on the off. boards could single handedly propel us to the upper echeolon of the East. Not to mention he is still young and somewhat controllable

Not interested! Not enough! Besides salaries aren't close. Noah, Thomas + to get that deal on the table.

A -- I've been pondering whether it's an "A" or a "B". They've been worse defensively than I thought they are capable of being so I was leaning towards a B ... but at the end of the day, they're right were they should be record wise (W-L). So that deserves an "A" I think.

A -- I've been pondering whether it's an "A" or a "B". They've been worse defensively than I thought they are capable of being so I was leaning towards a B ... but at the end of the day, they're right were they should be record wise (W-L). So that deserves an "A" I think.